NanomedicineCenter.com

5 biotech companies seek bankruptcy protection

The global financial crisis seems to have affected every industry branch, biotechnology included. The funding for the once very popular investing niche has been lowered to a level where some of the biotech companies had to seek bankruptcy protection. And that may not be the end.

The companies that are highly affected by the crisis are those that have experimental drugs waiting for human testing, which is very expensive. Since the funding has been cut down, they just can’t pay for the clinical trials. To get things in perspective, let’s say that the funding fell for nearly $10 billion through September! That’s a over 50% fall when compared to the same period last year.

“This never happened before. This is the first time in biotechnology history that companies are going bankrupt.” says David Strupp, managing director at Cannacord, Inc., a research and investment bank. “We’ll see what happens in the next 6 to 9 months.”

But there is hope… “Investors will probably return to biotech once the economy is stablized. It is still a very lucrative niche.” says Brent Milner, managing director of healthcare investing at Stanford Financial Group, Co.

Universities receive funds from NIH

University of Nebraska, University of Hawaii, University of Kentucky and University of Louisville have received funds from the National Institute of Health for nanomedicine research. The researchers will be focused on disease treatment and tissue repairment.

Each university will recieve around $10 million over a 5-year period. The funds will be used for building facilities, hiring staff, buying equipment and much more.

Iran among top 15

It is estimated that by 2015. Iran will join the fifteen top nanotechnology-research countries. Their head person of Presidential Research Office, Saber Mirzaei, has announced that they have been making tremendous progress in the nanomedicine and nanotechnology areas.

“Iran has managed to gain a lot of success in these fields.” Their strategic partners seem to be Brazil and South Africa. “Our country has reached a level in the production and commercialization of nanotech products that 70 Iranian companies are ready to face their rivals in the global market.”

Where does nanomedicine stand in the financial storm

The whole financial market is on it’s knees… It seems like everything is falling apart. All spheres of industry are coping to survive, even the strongest ones. So where does nanomedicine stand in this raging storm?

Nanotechnology, globally, has also reached a critical low. Nothing could resist the strong influence of the global crisis. Nanotechnology’s daughter, nanomedicine, is just slightly suffering. Medical costs are rising and new medical procedures are being demanded by the public (the whole world wants the scientists to find the cure for all the deadly diseases). Every finger points to nanomedicine…

The US National Science Foundation estimates that by 2015. the global nano-related market will top $1 trillion. That will be the fastest growing industry in history. It is assumed that nanotechnology will make a bigger boom that telecommunication/information technology in the 90s.

Most of the economic experts are advising that nanomedicine-related companies are safe to invest in, despite the crisis happening today. Some even say that nanomedicine is the only industry branch that is safe to invest in.